"I Think I Love My Wife" is the give-away-the-whole-movie title of Chris Rock's remake of that classic of the "nothing happens" genre of 1970s French romantic comedy, "Chloe in the Afternoon." It's a fitfully amusing tale of adulterous temptation, an ambitious attempt by the R-rated stand-up comic to take his act into more sophisticated territory.

But a joke-thin script and Rock's acting limitations (he directed it, too) hamper it, even with the too-fetching Kerry Washington as the personification of "the other woman."

Rock plays Richard Cooper, a buttoned-down New York banker with a Volvo station wagon, a house in the suburbs, two kids and a wife of seven years, Brenda (Gina Torres), who has a million excuses for not having sex with him.

Brenda is all about motherhood, and has even made a premature switch to "granny panties" at the lingerie store. They're "comfortable," she insists.

"The biggest thing on a pair of panties should be the tag" he cracks back.

Richard's eye is wandering, on the train, in the streets of Manhattan. He's fantasizing bachelorhood.

"You can't look at a woman in the suburbs. You stare at a soccer mom too long and they'll post your name on the Internet!"

Enter the lovely Nikki (Washington), the mercenary ex-girlfriend of a pal. She needs a reference. Then, she wants lunch. It's pretty obvious that she wants more.

The best things in the script are their scenes together, as the formidable Washington ("The Last King of Scotland") makes vintage Chris Rock black-America commentary in every line.

"Do I know your wife?" No. "Is she white?"

How many kids? "Any 'on the side?"'

Nikki's a tease, a woman so good-looking she can taunt a guy into adultery with a dismissive, "You let yourself get old."

For all the sharp, stinging social studies of the screenplay (by Rock and Louis C.K.), there really isn't enough humor to put this one over. Much like the possibility-of-naughty original film by Eric Rohmer, "I Think I Love My Wife" is a bit of a tease itself, and a bore.

Rock's nasty wisecracks and relationship stand-up act — Do the "break-up math," "You're not in love. You're in loyal." — work well enough in this context. He just needed a lot more of it.

<B>TITLE:</B> "I Think I Love My Wife"<B>CAST:</B> Chris Rock, Kerry Washington, Gina Torres and Steve Buscemi<B>DIRECTOR:</B> Chris Rock<B>RATED:</B> R for pervasive language ans some sexual content<B>GRADE:</B> 2 Stars (out of 5)